a traveling library of zines and other self-published DIY materials

Oakland + kids + zines!!

Yesterday was the zine mobile’s first youth-centered event — I parked outside the downtown Oakland Public Library and opened the zine mobile for reading room/library hours… inside we set up a table for zine-making. I brought two typewriters and the library had lots of awesome stamps and kids’ books bound for the recycling bin for clip art.

I feel I should confess that I was really nervous; the age group I tend to feel most comfortable around is at the other end of the age spectrum! But after some reassurance from lovely librarian Amy Martin (who set the whole thing up; thank you Amy!!!!!) and spending a few minutes with the kiddos, my anxiety vanished and I didn’t want the day to end, it was so fun and inspiring…

Some pix of what was created:

One little guy was so excited about the typewriter and asked if he could work on his novel and movie script!!

And thanks to dear friend and OPL teen librarian Amy Sonnie for bringing OPL’s teen zine collection for the afternoon!